The fishing is a little slow at the moment, what with the high pressure front and those big old blue skies, but as a result, the bait fish are showing in numbers.
One of the best bait fish around is the ballyhoo, a killer for snook, kingfish and other hard-fighters, and they are currently to be found all around the island and in the bays.
Use a net or some small feathers to catch yourself enough for a day's session, but don't put too many in your bucket or bait-keeper, as they need a bit of space. A live bait is best!
Take a look at this video from FloridaKeysFishStories.com on how to rig one for best results.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Monday, 14 September 2009
Snook season is here!
Hello there again fishing buddies!
Sorry it's been a while since I last cast you a line, but my waters have been real choppy recently. Thankfully all is calm again now.
So, let's start again at a great time of year for Florida fishermen: snook season. It's just got under way here in Anna Maria and already fishermen are reporting good lineside catches.
The snook is a hard-fighting fish, but can be tricky to snag, so here are some very basic tips on methods and times.
Method:
Live shrimp – Once the snook has been located, fish live shrimp using a 10 to 20 pound outfit with 30" of 40lb shock leader tied to a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. Weight the line with only enough split shot or sinker to get it to the bottom.
Live bait fish – Mullet, menhaden, pinfish,etc. Again using the same outfit but using a larger hook to match the bait.
Lures – A wide variety of lures and jigs are used to catch snook. Some of the favorites include the Red Tailed Hawk jig and many of the Mirrolures.
Tides:
The best time to fish for Snook is from one hour before high tide through the first three hours of the falling tide.
Paul Roat, writing in the Anna Maria Islander, says, 'linesiders are being hooked off the beaches of Anna Maria Island, but most of the action is coming from the passes and in the bays'.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and cast a line for these powerful pisces, you're in for a good work-out if you snag one.
Tight lines!
Sorry it's been a while since I last cast you a line, but my waters have been real choppy recently. Thankfully all is calm again now.
So, let's start again at a great time of year for Florida fishermen: snook season. It's just got under way here in Anna Maria and already fishermen are reporting good lineside catches.
The snook is a hard-fighting fish, but can be tricky to snag, so here are some very basic tips on methods and times.
Method:
Live shrimp – Once the snook has been located, fish live shrimp using a 10 to 20 pound outfit with 30" of 40lb shock leader tied to a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. Weight the line with only enough split shot or sinker to get it to the bottom.
Live bait fish – Mullet, menhaden, pinfish,etc. Again using the same outfit but using a larger hook to match the bait.
Lures – A wide variety of lures and jigs are used to catch snook. Some of the favorites include the Red Tailed Hawk jig and many of the Mirrolures.
Tides:
The best time to fish for Snook is from one hour before high tide through the first three hours of the falling tide.
Paul Roat, writing in the Anna Maria Islander, says, 'linesiders are being hooked off the beaches of Anna Maria Island, but most of the action is coming from the passes and in the bays'.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and cast a line for these powerful pisces, you're in for a good work-out if you snag one.
Tight lines!
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Cortez fishermen pitched beneath cloudy skies
Bad news for commercial fishermen in Cortez this week. New commercial grouper fishing regulations designed to save sea turtles have left some Cortez fishermen out of action.
According to the Anna Maria Sun newspaper, of the dozen grouper boats fishing out of Cortez, five will be able to use longlines under new rules passed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council last week.
The new rules are intended to reduce the number of longline boats, which regulators hope will minimize interactions with sea turtles. Longliners typically drop a line with 750 to 1,200 baited hooks on the sea floor for five to 10 miles, and begin retrieving it within an hour.
For boats to qualify for a longline endorsement, the new rules require minimum average annual catches of 40,000 pounds. They also prohibit using more than 750 hooks at a time, with 1,000 maximum on board, and prohibit shallow water grouper fishing from June to August, when turtles are plentiful in the eastern Gulf.
Several fishermen testified at the hearing that they had never encountered a single dead sea turtle on their longlines. Recreational fishermen and environmental groups, often at odds with the commercial industry, also questioned statistics at the hearing.
It seems the fishermen have no choice to but to keep fighting the ban - and hope that the skies on the horizon are brighter than they appear overhead at the moment.
Read the full story here
There really is only one company to trust with your Anna Maria Island vacation, and only one website you need to visit. Click on www.annamaria.com for the very best in vacation rentals on the island. From two-bed cottages, to huge homes for the whole family, waterside, gulf front, secluded, we have it all.
According to the Anna Maria Sun newspaper, of the dozen grouper boats fishing out of Cortez, five will be able to use longlines under new rules passed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council last week.
The new rules are intended to reduce the number of longline boats, which regulators hope will minimize interactions with sea turtles. Longliners typically drop a line with 750 to 1,200 baited hooks on the sea floor for five to 10 miles, and begin retrieving it within an hour.
For boats to qualify for a longline endorsement, the new rules require minimum average annual catches of 40,000 pounds. They also prohibit using more than 750 hooks at a time, with 1,000 maximum on board, and prohibit shallow water grouper fishing from June to August, when turtles are plentiful in the eastern Gulf.
Several fishermen testified at the hearing that they had never encountered a single dead sea turtle on their longlines. Recreational fishermen and environmental groups, often at odds with the commercial industry, also questioned statistics at the hearing.
It seems the fishermen have no choice to but to keep fighting the ban - and hope that the skies on the horizon are brighter than they appear overhead at the moment.
Read the full story here
There really is only one company to trust with your Anna Maria Island vacation, and only one website you need to visit. Click on www.annamaria.com for the very best in vacation rentals on the island. From two-bed cottages, to huge homes for the whole family, waterside, gulf front, secluded, we have it all.
Friday, 7 August 2009
The secrets of snook
Hi there fishing fans!
The snook are on the move! Various reports have the snook are moving off the beaches and into Longboat Pass and to Bean Point in preparation for the start of the season next month. How do they know?!
Anyway, to make sure you are as prepared as possible to take on these hard-fighting creatures, here's some sage advice from Sun-Sentinel outdoors writer Steve Waters and Tom Greene of Custom Rod & Reel.
Watch and learn people, watch and learn...
The snook are on the move! Various reports have the snook are moving off the beaches and into Longboat Pass and to Bean Point in preparation for the start of the season next month. How do they know?!
Anyway, to make sure you are as prepared as possible to take on these hard-fighting creatures, here's some sage advice from Sun-Sentinel outdoors writer Steve Waters and Tom Greene of Custom Rod & Reel.
Watch and learn people, watch and learn...
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Remember to get a license
It's licence time fellow fishermen. Don’t forget to get a fishing license if you’re going to fish from shore after August 1. You can pick one up from most tackle shops or the tax collector’s office and it will only cost you $9. Is there a better value ticket in the whole state?
Fishing action in and around Anna Maria Island has picked up thanks to some recent hot weather, with most captains and pleasure anglers reporting good catches of trout, redfish and catch-and-release snook around the shores and grouper and snapper going well in the deeper water.
One visitor who can vouch for the quality of grouper fishing off Anna Maria Island is Amy Sharma, who may have set a new world record for black grouper.
Amy was fishing with husband Andy aboard Team Legmakr with Capt. Anthony Manali and his wife Joann when she reeled in a 93.5-pounder in the Gulf of Mexico..
According to the AM Islander, both are frequent visitors to the Island. They certainly will be from now on... Check out the picture on the Islander's website here
Don't just visit Anna Maria Island, stay here. For the very best in vacation rental properties visit www.annamaria.com and spend your vacation in a real home from home.
Fishing action in and around Anna Maria Island has picked up thanks to some recent hot weather, with most captains and pleasure anglers reporting good catches of trout, redfish and catch-and-release snook around the shores and grouper and snapper going well in the deeper water.
One visitor who can vouch for the quality of grouper fishing off Anna Maria Island is Amy Sharma, who may have set a new world record for black grouper.
Amy was fishing with husband Andy aboard Team Legmakr with Capt. Anthony Manali and his wife Joann when she reeled in a 93.5-pounder in the Gulf of Mexico..
According to the AM Islander, both are frequent visitors to the Island. They certainly will be from now on... Check out the picture on the Islander's website here
Don't just visit Anna Maria Island, stay here. For the very best in vacation rental properties visit www.annamaria.com and spend your vacation in a real home from home.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Having a whale of a time...
All fishermen have at one time exaggerated about the one that got away. Hands get steadily further apart as they recount the size and girth of that monster of the deep which lived to fight another day.
But Ted Dorenkamp and Steve Doyle could not stretch their arms wide enough to describe the leviathan that swam past them on a recent trip out of Anna Maria Island.
Anchored 18 miles west of Bean Point, and quietly minding their own business, the pair saw a commotion on the surface before shortly getting a close-up look of what was causing it.
"And all of a sudden it charged the boat. It came right up to us, and we realized it was a whale shark," Dorenkamp told the AM Islander.
"Then it went under the boat and lifted up the bow," Dorenkamp said. “We had to hang on. Then it went to the stern and bumped it a few times. It must have been around us for 30 or 45 minutes. It was very, very, very, very cool.”
Lucky for them the whale shark only eats plankton and other food it filters into its enormous mouth.
Check out the full story at the Islander website here
When you get to Florida, be sure to call in on Anna Maria Island, a little gem of a place off the Gulf Coast. Check out www.annamaria.com for the very best in vacation rentals on this paradise island.
But Ted Dorenkamp and Steve Doyle could not stretch their arms wide enough to describe the leviathan that swam past them on a recent trip out of Anna Maria Island.
Anchored 18 miles west of Bean Point, and quietly minding their own business, the pair saw a commotion on the surface before shortly getting a close-up look of what was causing it.
"And all of a sudden it charged the boat. It came right up to us, and we realized it was a whale shark," Dorenkamp told the AM Islander.
"Then it went under the boat and lifted up the bow," Dorenkamp said. “We had to hang on. Then it went to the stern and bumped it a few times. It must have been around us for 30 or 45 minutes. It was very, very, very, very cool.”
Lucky for them the whale shark only eats plankton and other food it filters into its enormous mouth.
Check out the full story at the Islander website here
When you get to Florida, be sure to call in on Anna Maria Island, a little gem of a place off the Gulf Coast. Check out www.annamaria.com for the very best in vacation rentals on this paradise island.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
This gag is no joke
Hi fishing fans,
There are lots of reports at the moment of grouper being caught in pretty good numbers off shore, so we thought we'd take a look at this funny-looking fish which can give you some excellent arm-aching action.
There is some pretty comprehensive advice at basspro.com which you might want to follow. But for a simple guide to catching a grouper, be it gag, red, black, yellow fin or Warsaw, there are a few basic rules you should follow.
There are basically three approaches used when fishing for grouper – straight bottom fishing, freelining live bait, and slow trolling. Fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico often have the most success trolling for grouper.
In the gulf grouper anglers use diving plugs that go as deep as 30ft or more over artificial reefs. Anglers slow troll these large artificials over and around these structures and generally speaking if there is a grouper nearby it will bite - they're good like that.
For more info, check out this video of some lucky guy catching a 400lb goliath grouper - the music is a bit annoying, but look at the size of that thing!
Don't just visit Anna Maria Island, stay here. For the very best in vacation rental properties visit www.amisland.com and spend your vacation in a real home from home.
There are lots of reports at the moment of grouper being caught in pretty good numbers off shore, so we thought we'd take a look at this funny-looking fish which can give you some excellent arm-aching action.
There is some pretty comprehensive advice at basspro.com which you might want to follow. But for a simple guide to catching a grouper, be it gag, red, black, yellow fin or Warsaw, there are a few basic rules you should follow.
There are basically three approaches used when fishing for grouper – straight bottom fishing, freelining live bait, and slow trolling. Fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico often have the most success trolling for grouper.
In the gulf grouper anglers use diving plugs that go as deep as 30ft or more over artificial reefs. Anglers slow troll these large artificials over and around these structures and generally speaking if there is a grouper nearby it will bite - they're good like that.
For more info, check out this video of some lucky guy catching a 400lb goliath grouper - the music is a bit annoying, but look at the size of that thing!
Don't just visit Anna Maria Island, stay here. For the very best in vacation rental properties visit www.amisland.com and spend your vacation in a real home from home.
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